Gavin
The forest was quiet around me. The kind of quiet that pressed in on your ears, like even the trees were holding their breath.
I sat cross-legged in the dirt, the late summer breeze brushing against my bare skin. The soft rustle of leaves overhead, the crackling sound of fire still pulsing under my skin — these were the only things that kept me tethered to this world.
My eyes were closed, but everything inside me burned.
I wasn’t just meditating. I was listening.
And he came.
The light behind my lids flared—white-hot and searing—and the familiar pulse of heat surged down my spine. I didn’t flinch. I welcomed it.
“My loyal flame.”
His voice was thunder and flame, silk and blade. Helios.
I opened my eyes, but what I saw wasn’t the forest. It was a golden realm of fire and smok
